Mumbai-based Savera Mehta is doing a lot of things right on his single ‘Swim’. Right off the bat, it incorporates elements of indie, folk and electronic music in a really cinematic way. No, this is not your run-of-the-mill acoustic tune with a bunch of other embellishments to keep your attention. Every sound he uses in this song renders it incomplete if you take it out. That’s songwriting efficiency, and to boot, it all goes over really, really well.

Let’s start with the mood of the song. It is a bit melancholy and gloomy, but it has a sense of epicness and scale that lifts it to something far more impactful. The lush strings that accentuate choruses and blobs of deep, brooding sub bass contribute to this in a way. Every time they enter the mix, the song goes from its default shy acoustic-guitar space to a sort of auditory sunrise. It’s really something. Influence-wise, it’s possible (if you’re one of the people that attach every piece of music to its influences) that Savera is a Foals fan. His voice has a strident and strong quality that they use a lot, and his decision to use an anticipatory but instantly catchy vocal delivery which takes the melodic lead echoes that. The tone of the track is actually quite muted and low-key for the most part, which makes every moment that the instrumentation opens up all the more gratifying. The biggest case in point is the last minute of the song, where everything just lets loose with all the strings, electronics, all of it. It’s a good candidate for repeated play, and ‘Swim’ sounds just as good every time.